Toyo completes new Malaysian tyre plant
Toyo Tire & Rubber Co president Akira Nobuki has announced the completion of the company’s new tyre plant in Malaysia (TTM). Toyo is progressing towards a three-region global supply system as outlined in the company’s 2011 mid-term business plan, with factories in North America, Japan and Asia. Toyo’s Asia operations are in a process of expanded motorisation where further growth of demand is expected. Toyo is positioning Asia as a vital strategic market that will provide a boost to its business foundation.
Toyo Tires chairman and representative director Kenji Nakakura remarked: “At TTM, we have implemented our proprietary ATOM tyre production system elemental technology. We will take full advantage of Japanese technology in order to achieve Japanese quality here in Malaysia and supply world-class, high-performance, fuel-efficient tyres from this plant. I want us to deliver fantastic tyres made in Malaysia to our customers here and abroad and achieve the sentiment that the decision to choose Toyo Tires was the right one.”
TTM will be capable of producing 2.5 million tyres annually by the end of this year, and by 2015, the plant will aim to boost its annual supply capacity to five million tyres. While TTM will become a supply base for the Southeast Asian market, Toyo plans to make it an export hub for the company’s global tyre business. Toyo has built the plant with enough room on site to double the existing output and has plans to expand further in the future. Currently though, TTM is a manufacturing and sales company that produces and sells tyres in Malaysia.
Toyo explained its TTM plant concept as having four major facets: energy efficiency, high quality, high productivity and non-skill dependent.
Toyo says it has implemented tyre production technology to reduce the amount of energy used in the manufacturing process. The plant will use solar power and LED lighting in the administrative offices, Toyo exemplifies. To ensure quality, TTM also implements equipment and systems already currently operating at other Toyo Tires plants in Japan and overseas. This will minimise variation in the finished goods and in the parts prior to tyre moulding.
ATOM, Toyo Tires’ proprietary tyre production system, has been adopted at plants in Japan, the US, and China already. It enables more precisely controlled manufacturing while reducing lead time in the production process as well as the overall number of processes. In terms of operational friendliness not dependent upon specialised skill, Toyo has established operation processes and environments and adoption of automation and IT technology for the production process.
A local ceremony celebrating the opening of TTM was attended by around 350 people. Guests included ambassador Shigeru Nakamura of the Embassy of Japan in Malaysia, Dr. Rebecca Fatimasta Maria, secretary general of Ministry of International Trade & Industry as a representatives from Malaysia’s national government and the state of Perak, the locality of Taiping, and parties involved in the plant’s construction.
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